…if you just need a short form to collect some basic information these are a few flexible and not too difficult choices. Keep in mind that this is by no means a complete or even necessarily the best in class list. There are of course tons of form creation options out there - just google “easy forms for web site” to see what I mean. If you are looking specifically to do surveys the possibilities continue to expand.

Link: Quick and Dirty Form Builders

Online survey tools can be a very cost-effective way for delivering surveys, collecting results, and then analyzing the results all through one central system. While they’re not going to be the right fit for every research need (for instance, a paper survey is likely to get a much higher response rate at an in-person event, and provide more accurate data among populations that are not as comfortable with computers), online surveys are great for gathering informal data quickly and easily.

Covers:

• What Do These Tools Do?
• Basic Survey Tools
• Lower Cost Integrated Solutions
• More Advanced Survey Packages
• Choosing the Right Survey Tool

Link: A Few Good Online Survey Tools

A major software package shouldn’t be chosen lightly. In this detailed guide, Peter Campbell walks through how to find software options, evaluate them, make a good decision, and then purchase the system in a way that protects you.

Link: The Perfect Fit: A Guide to Evaluating and Purchasing Major Software Systems

Jason Calacanis recommends 10 things to do when you need to demo a startup when you have only 5 minutes. Some of these suggestions applies if you have only a product, service, or anything you want to promote. Use both imagination and common sense.

1. Show your product within the first 60 seconds
2. The best products take less than five minutes to demo
3. Leave people wanting more
4. Talk about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do
5. Understand your competitive landscape–current and historical
6. Short answers are best
7. PowerPoint bullet slides are death
8. How to use this new device called the phone
9. How to handle questions you don’t know the answer to
10. Always confirm the time of your meeting/call, & always be 15 minutes early

Read more about each suggestion: How To Demo Your Startup

ReadWriteWeb presents 4+ Ways to Quickly Create Excellent Presentations Online in which they offer an annotated list of free Web-based presentation software - 7 in all including…

Link: 4+ Ways to Quickly Create Excellent Presentations Online

For the last three months I have been hard at work learning SEO by optimizing a local small business website. The business is called Giggly Wiggly Preschool and is located in the Seattle suburb Issaquah, Washington. This Issaquah Preschool was the preschool I attended many years ago, so I am happy I was given the chance to give back to it. Optimizing for local search is a great way to learn SEO because there is less competition and it is easier to maintain a small and focused scope. It has been a slow process but has taught me a lot. The following is a checklist of all the tasks that have been necessary for me to generate great results. My hope is that this list can be used by inexperienced SEOs who are looking to learn the trade. (As a bonus, I have included checkboxes so you can print this and complete it in your spare time.)

Link: The Beginner’s Checklist for Small Business SEO

…how does a web-worker today find a better web hosting provider?

Link: Finding a New Web Site Host

As web designers, we’ve grown pretty good at understanding how to create a modern, semantic, accessible website using XHTML and CSS. We understand what makes a good website, and how to make it happen.

When it comes time to design emails though, do all the same rules apply? Are there things we should be doing specifically for email that don’t make sense on a website? In this article we’ll discuss the technical, design and information elements that make up a successful HTML email.

Link: 2008 Email Design Guidelines